ESP

Call this ESP 'Mr. VP'

Idaho custodian Marty Meyer gets active in his Association and reaches new heights.

When Marty Meyer told a school district official that he was running for vice president of the Idaho Education Association (IEA), the official was taken aback.

"He told me he couldn't believe that the IEA would elect a custodian as VP," says Meyer, head custodian at Fernan Elementary School in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. "I said that they were not electing a custodian as VP. They were electing me, as a person."

The person Meyer has become since joining IEA in 1989 is different from the one who worked as a pipe fitter on a Texas nuclear power plant in the early 1970s. That person just punched a clock.

And, Meyer is no longer the construction worker he was in the late 1970s who grew frustrated with the frequent layoffs and lack of health and retirement benefits. That job too lacked purpose.

Even his school job appeared to be routine at first. "I started working with schools because the district offered benefits for my growing family," says Meyer, who had three children when he started custodial work in 1981. "Then I got involved with the Association and learned about all this opportunity to stretch and grow as a person. It changed me."

In 1993, Meyer began to spread his activist wings by joining the Coeur d'Alene Education Association insurance committee. He also started attending state conferences and recruiting new members. Eventually he joined the IEA Government Relations/Political Action Committee for Education.

"In a non-bargaining state [for ESPs], I was able to be an advocate for education support professionals," he says.

After attending his first national NEA ESP conference in 1999, his aspirations began to soar even higher. Soon he was testifying before the Idaho legislature on behalf of ESPs, lobbying legislators on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and working on political campaigns.

Meyer's ambition to help others was also sparked by the joy he found interacting with students.

"It's hard to have a bad day at work with the kids saying your name all day," he says. "Over the years, I get the opportunity to watch them unfold into great human beings."

Back at school he continues to manage the grounds of Fernan, while organizing parent groups to support community causes and playing guitar at assemblies and in classrooms.

"In everything I do, I like to get people involved," says Meyer. "I think of my job as providing a place where learning can occur."

Meyer's enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed by Association leaders.

"He brings a voice to our Association that we lacked," says IEA President Sherri Wood. "When he comes to a meeting you can be sure that he has done his homework."

After Meyer was named NEA ESP of the Year in 2003, NEA President Reg Weaver said that Meyer's job didn't "begin nor end at the schoolhouse door. Whether he's challenging—and educating—public education's foes, Marty's giving it his all."

Even with these accolades, to win the VP's office Meyer had to count on the support of teachers, who comprise 90 percent of IEA's almost 12,000 members. Meyer campaigned in most of IEA's nine regions, even though he ran unopposed.

"I expected an opponent," Meyer says. "I still had to address issues regarding my qualifications, experience, and motivation."

Meyer won the election last June. Along with serving a three-year term, he chairs the budget committee, which is responsible for the Association's $4 million budget.

As usual, Meyer has risen to the occasion, acquiring the necessary financial, administrative, and public speaking skills. He insists, however, on keeping his priorities in order.

"I support my president but there are times when you can't get away," he says. "Schools are busy places. I was hired to do a job and I better do it."

—John Rosales

Photo: Jesse Tinsley